Santiaguito

This morning we hiked up to the volcano Santiaguito. It was spectacular. We watched it erupt twice before we had to go back down. We were lucky to have a beautiful morning with no fog so we could see the entire valley below us. We went with two hilarious guides, Juan and Edy, and our friend from Germany, Pia. It was warm enough that we were in short sleeves on the way back down! The only other people we saw were men hiking up to work their fields so we didn´t even have to use our machete! We encountered a horse with a large bundle on his back and a herd of goats followed by two brothers. We gave the smallest one a sandwich.
Last night we went to a national salsa competition at the Gran Karmel, the fanciest place in Xela. The women in our house were very jealous that we were going. We went with a few other people from school and took a picture outside the entrance. As you can see, it was deluxe.
Hannah snapped a few shots of signs around the city this afternoon as well. We find the ¨McInternet¨concept very entertaining, and there is always at least one kid in Mickey D´s playing online games. Sometimes when we´re boppin around town we stop in to use the bathroom or get an ice cream cone. In Latin America, McDonalds is very clean and it is a treat for the people to eat there. We love it.
There are spray painted signs all around the city that say ¨Organized Neighborhoods Against Delinquency.¨ Today we saw one that said ¨Organized Delinquents Against the Neighborhood.¨